Hearings begin on Abortion Trafficking Prevention Act

Pro-life bill receives bi-partisan support from bill sponsors

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Today, hearings began on the Abortion Trafficking Prevention Act (H.B. 149), legislation that aims to close a loophole in Ohio law that allows compensation for the remains of aborted children. Pro-life Representatives Margy Conditt (R-Liberty Township) and Bill Patmon (D-Cleveland), who are the bill's sponsors, testified before the House Health Committee.

"Ohio Right to Life is grateful for the exemplary pro-life leadership of Representatives Conditt and Patmon as they continue to work with our organization to find new ways to protect the dignity of the unborn," said Devin Scribner, executive director of Ohio Right to Life. "The abortion industry should not have the opportunity to profit from a child's death twice: First, by way of the abortion, and second, by trading their tiny organs. Most reasonable people would agree that compensation for a child's organs is simply beyond the pale."

Federal law currently bans fetal tissue trafficking, but a loophole allows tissue traffickers to compensate abortion clinics for services related to the trafficking of fetal tissue, including storage and transportation. This bill would make the exchange of any form of compensation for fetal tissue or organs illegal, and would make the activity a third degree felony. Twenty-three co-sponsors signed onto the bill in March.

"As we've seen in other states, Planned Parenthood is accustomed to trading the parts of an aborted child under the guise of 'shipping and handling,'" said Scribner. "Our goal is to ensure that this deceitful practice isn't happening here in Ohio at any of the state's abortion facilities. The tragic reality is that the abortion industry is already capitalizing on the more than 20,000 abortions that occur in our state every year. The State of Ohio should do everything in its power to prevent the dignity of abortion victims from being further denigrated."

Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 45 chapters and local affiliates, is Ohio's oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death.